It’s not rocket science. Increasing unfriendly regulations on the production and distribution of oil and gasoline will result in higher prices at the pump. Prices were already way above where they were a year prior to the Russia/Ukraine war. The conflict only made matters worse.

Congress attacking investors who depend on these investments for their income are barking up the wrong tree. Cutting dividends will lead to an exodus from those energy stocks in search of more stable and higher dividends. But maybe that’s what some of these lawmakers want. There is this push to eliminate fossil fuels and it is becoming Quixotic. Petroleum is in just about everything we use. Gasoline is only a part of it.

Chevron leader Michael Wirth and Richard Muncrief, chief executive officer of one of the largest independent U.S. producers, Devon Energy Corp., said their companies are already responding with new investment in boosting output. But Pioneer Natural Resources Co. CEO Scott Sheffield said it could be as much as two years before such investments could lead to enough new supply to materially bring down prices

The industry “is experiencing severe cost inflation, a labor shortage due to three downturns in 12 years, shortages of drilling rigs, frack fleets, frack sand, steel pipe and other equipment and materials, and the need for pipelines and LNG facilities,” Mr. Sheffield said.

Oil Executives Reject Price-Gouging Accusations – WSJ

Exxon is already exiting from Russian supplies. Removing 230k barrels of oil a day from the market will not have a positive impact on prices.

Exxon CEO Darren Woods said in remarks prepared for the hearing that the fear of losing Russian supply has fed price increases. He said his company has started to exit from an oil-and-gas project it runs on Sakhalin Island in Russia’s Far East in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine and that the company will make no further investments in Russia.

Closing that venture would remove nearly 230,000 barrels a day from global oil supplies and about 3% of the company’s overall oil production, The Wall Street Journal has previously reported.

“Russia provides roughly 10% of the oil needed to meet global demand, and about 30% of Europe’s natural-gas demand,” Mr. Woods said. “Unfortunately there’s no quick fix. But in the near term the answer is straightforward: If we want to reduce prices, we need to increase supply.”

Oil Executives Reject Price-Gouging Accusations – WSJ

If you want to bore yourself to tears you can watch all 6 hours of the hearing.